Global Managing Director, Lefay

Job Summary

The Global Managing Director – Lefay Wellness Resorts provides strategic and enterprise leadership for the long-term stewardship, evolution, and global expansion of Lefay, a luxury wellness resort brand. This role is accountable for safeguarding the brand’s founding philosophy and proprietary wellness methodologies while driving sustainable growth, financial performance, and asset value creation through a disciplined, asset-light model.

Operating within a Joint Venture structure, the Managing Director partners closely with the Founders, Joint Venture Board, and Marriott’s global and regional functions to ensure the brand’s standards, operating model, and development pipeline are scalable, compliant, and aligned across markets. The role requires strong governance, stakeholder alignment, and the ability to lead effectively within a complex, matrixed organization.

Leveraging a deliberately lean organizational model, the Managing Director provides leadership and strategic oversight across properties, including influence over General Manager selection and performance, while ensuring alignment to Lefay’s luxury positioning, wellness credibility, and guest experience standards.

The position reports to the JV Board.

Scope

• Location: Switzerland
• This position will be required to travel frequently
• Direct Reports:  TBD

Key Responsibilities

• Protect and scale Lefay’s wellness philosophy and proprietary methodologies by codifying and embedding the brand’s integrated wellness framework, encompassing its scientific underpinnings, treatment methodologies, programme design, and translation into consistent guest experiences across diverse global markets.
• Partner with ownership and development teams to grow a disciplined global pipeline by identifying and evaluating target markets and opportunities, encompassing feasibility assessment, deal structuring support, and alignment of all new developments to Lefay’s brand positioning, design philosophy, and financial performance expectations.
• Drive alignment across Marriott, the Joint Venture Board, owners, and brand stakeholders by establishing and leading governance and decision-making frameworks, encompassing structured forums, clear roles and accountabilities, and consistent communication to enable prioritisation and execution within a complex matrixed environment.
• Oversee brand standards, guest experience, and wellness programming globally by defining and governing Lefay’s end-to-end brand framework, encompassing brand pillars and foundational elements, tone of voice and positioning, and the full guest journey from pre-arrival through post-stay engagement.
• Serve as the primary interface with the Joint Venture Board of Directors by leading strategic engagement and performance reporting, encompassing regular updates on financial performance, development pipeline progress, brand evolution, and alignment on long-term strategic priorities.
• Lead governance processes including strategy, budgeting, and reporting by establishing and maintaining enterprise planning and performance frameworks, encompassing annual and long-range strategic plans, budget and forecasting cycles, and disciplined reporting against agreed KPIs and investment objectives
• Embed compliance with Marriott policies and regulatory frameworks by integrating required standards and controls into the operating model, encompassing oversight across all properties and developments, adherence to legal and governance requirements, and proactive identification and mitigation of risk across jurisdictions.
• Own full P&L accountability including forecasting and capital planning by driving financial performance across the portfolio, encompassing revenue and profitability optimisation, budget development and reforecasting, and capital allocation decisions aligned to long-term asset value creation.
• Optimize a lean Joint Venture operating model by leveraging Marriott’s global and regional infrastructure, encompassing clear delineation of responsibilities across shared services, efficient resource allocation, and avoidance of unnecessary above-property duplication.
• Oversee design, technical standards, and sustainability integration by guiding concept development and execution across the portfolio, encompassing alignment to Lefay’s aesthetic and wellness positioning, technical and operational standards, and the integration of sustainability principles into both development and ongoing operations.
• Lead global stakeholder engagement with owners, developers, and partners by building and maintaining strategic relationships, encompassing alignment on brand expectations, performance outcomes, and long-term growth opportunities across the Lefay portfolio.
• Build and lead a high-performing leadership team across functions by defining required capabilities and structure, encompassing talent selection and development across brand, design, and finance, and embedding a culture aligned to Lefay’s values, standards, and performance expectations.
• Lead through influence within a complex matrix organisation by aligning cross-functional Marriott teams across regions and disciplines, encompassing collaboration, prioritisation, and delivery of shared objectives without direct line authority.
• Sustain strong relationships to drive long-term brand and financial performance by engaging consistently with owners, Joint Venture partners, and internal stakeholders, encompassing alignment to strategic priorities, investment objectives, and sustained brand integrity over time.

Additional Duties 

• Uphold the highest standards of business ethics and compliance with Marriott policies. 
• Champion cross-functional collaboration and team excellence, building a purpose-driven, peak performance culture across EMEA hotels and offices. 

Candidate Profile

Required

• 15+ years of senior leadership experience within upper‑luxury hospitality, lifestyle, or wellness‑adjacent brands, ideally in resort environments.
• Demonstrated credibility in the wellness space, paired with the judgment to operate as an enterprise business leader rather than a functional specialist.
• Proven success leading complex, multi‑entity or Joint Venture structures with Board‑level accountability.
• Extensive experience operating in multicultural, matrixed, and internationally regulated environments, including Europe.
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate market and business trends and translate strategy into large‑scale execution
• College degree required

Preferred

• Demonstrated strong strategic and commercial leadership, balancing long-term vision with disciplined execution and bringing deep financial acumen across P&L ownership, budgeting, forecasting, and capital planning.
• Operated effectively within complex, matrixed and Joint Venture environments, influencing outcomes without direct authority and aligning diverse stakeholders including Boards, owners, partners, and cross-functional teams.
• Exhibited credible and influential leadership, combining entrepreneurial brand stewardship with enterprise-level governance, supported by sound judgment, strong negotiation capability, and fact-based decision making.
• Built, led, and developed high-performing teams within lean organisational models, demonstrating the ability to prioritise, problem-solve, and deliver results in fast-paced, complex, and ambiguous environments.
• Demonstrated strong governance, risk, and compliance capability, operating with high integrity and accountability across multi-jurisdictional environments and leading transformation while maintaining operational stability.
• Built trusted relationships and aligned stakeholders globally, combining exceptional communication and partnership capability with a global mindset and a purpose-driven leadership style aligned to wellness values, resilience, and personal accountability.
• Graduate degree preferred, such as MBA or equivalent

Key Competencies 

• Curious: Open to new ideas, seeks diverse viewpoints, and explores better ways of working.  
• Courageous: Challenges norms, takes ownership, and leads change.  
• Connected: Builds meaningful relationships and fosters collaboration across boundaries. 

Enterprise Leadership & Peak Performance Capabilities 

• Demonstrates strong commercial judgement and financial acumen, applying insight to drive sustainable results and enterprise value across a complex, multi brand and multimarket environment. 
• Operates effectively in ambiguity, complexity, and change, maintaining clarity of direction and momentum while balancing competing priorities, commitments, and decision horizons. 
• Thinks and acts with an enterprise mindset, prioritising end to end outcomes over functional or local optimisation and making disciplined trade-offs that protect brand integrity—particularly within luxury—while optimising enterprise value. 
• Sets clear strategic direction and translates vision into priorities, commitments, and measurable outcomes through others, across a highly matrixed and geographically dispersed organisation. 
• Builds strong, trust based stakeholder partnerships across senior regional leaders, owners and franchise partners, hotel leadership, brand and luxury platforms, and discipline teams; influences without authority and aligns diverse and sometimes competing interests toward shared enterprise outcomes. 
• Leads inclusively across diverse cultures, geographies, and perspectives, demonstrating strong cultural fluency and situational awareness while reinforcing common purpose, values, and standards. 
• Creates the conditions for sustained high performance, holding high standards of accountability while enabling focus, alignment, and continuous improvement at scale. 

Leadership Approach & Expectations 

• Leads through vision and values, ensuring decisions and behaviours consistently reflect organisational purpose, brand standards, and enterprise leadership expectations. 
• Leads as a coach, adopting a coaching mindset that builds capability, strengthens judgement, and multiplies impact across teams, markets, and stakeholder groups. 
• Embeds continuous, real time coaching and feedback, supporting individuals and teams to adapt, learn, and perform at their best in complex and evolving environments. 
• Drives and sustains change, modelling resilience, composure, and confidence while removing barriers and accelerating progress across multiple geographies and stakeholder systems. 
• Applies sound judgement and enterprise level decision making, integrating multiple perspectives, data, and contextual insight to navigate complexity and make effective trade-offs. 
• Delivers results through others, setting clear expectations, establishing individual and collective accountability, and ensuring follow through across a matrixed operating model. 
• Invests actively in talent and succession, developing current and future leaders capable of operating at scale and representing the enterprise across brands and markets. 

Contribution to Peak Performance 

• Champions a coaching led performance culture, where trust, learning, and honest dialogue enable sustained performance across diverse teams, brands, and geographies. 
• Connects individual and team contributions to enterprise priorities and outcomes, reinforcing ownership, accountability, and clarity of purpose in a complex operating environment. 
• Strengthens organisational capability by scaling impact through people, enabling leaders and teams to perform effectively without reliance on personal heroics. 
• Shapes a culture of continuous improvement, resilience, and disciplined execution, ensuring the enterprise delivers consistent results while protecting brand integrity—particularly within luxury—and meeting commitments across markets.